the haiku circle

Yu Chang: 2017 Guest Reader & Workshop Leader

Yu Chang was born in mainland China and grew up in Taiwan. After finishing his graduate studies in the U.S. (Wisconsin, Syracuse) in 1974, he became a faculty member of Union College (Schenectady, NY) in the department of electrical engineering and computer science.

He hasn’t stopped writing since that unexpected and eventful day in February 1996 when, while surfing for e.e. cummings’ poems, he found The Shiki Internet Haiku Salon instead. His poems first appeared on the Shiki list around mid 90s, including prize-winners for The Shiki Internet Haiku Contest (1996, 1997). Many have found their way into print since then, in the Museum of Haiku Literature, The Harold G. Henderson Contest, The Heron’s Nest, and the Red Moon Anthologies.

The Route 9 Haiku Group (Ion Codrescu, Hilary Tann, John Stevenson, Tom Clausen, and Yu Chang) is in its 17th year of producing the biannual anthology, Upstate Dim Sum, and the members have done readings at various haiku conferences and venues such as Cornell’s Mann Library.

After his retirement from Union College in 2014, Yu Chang has been enjoying his daily walk in and out of the woods in Schenectady’s Central Park. His current interest is to take a closer look at haiku arrangements and their renku scent.

A collection of his poems, Seeds, was published in 2009 by Red Moon Press, and another collection, Small Things, was published by Free Food Press in 2016.